Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Lewis Tree Service, Inc., 5510 Front St., EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA 18040
on — Fractures, affecting the knee(s).
Final narrative
An employee was aloft in a tree cutting tree limbs. He was using a rope system and while repositioning, he slipped on moss that was on the tree bark and struck his knee awkwardly on the tree. The employee sustained a fractured kneecap and was hospitalized.
An employee was flagging traffic on a public road near a tree trimming operation. A car stopped next to him as he stood on the shoulder. A second car, approaching at high speed and about to strike the first car, veered onto the shoulder and struck the employee instead. He suffered a broken tooth, a laceration on his tongue, a laceration and bruise on his head, several broken bones, and a hematoma on his left thigh. He was hospitalized.
An employee was sectioning a tree that had fallen across a driveway. He initiated a cut through the tree trunk and then repositioned to the other side of the tree to complete the cut. As he completed the cut, a cut section of the tree rolled toward him and struck his lower left leg. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured tibia.
A tree trimming crew had established a roadside work zone. The injured employee was standing off the highway in a grassy area. A pickup truck was driving through the work zone when it swerved off the road to avoid colliding with a slower truck in front of it and struck the injured employee. The employee was hospitalized with injuries to their abdominal area and wrist.
An employee was trimming a tree near an electric line. While the employee was up in the tree, one of the branches fell and hit his left leg, resulting in a broken leg.
An employee was between the trough and casting pit, cleaning a filter box at the end of a cast. His right foot slipped off the lid of the cast pan and went into an opening where molten aluminum goes into a trough. The employee contacted molten aluminum and sustained third degree burns to his right leg, ankle, and foot.
An employee was leaning against a fry station when his legs began to slip out from under him. He went to break his fall when his right arm entered the cooking oil. He suffered second- and third-degree burns to the arm.
An employee was unlashing (loosening chains) military vehicles on rail cars prior to offloading. As he stepped off the railcar and onto the ground, he twisted his left ankle in loose gravel alongside the rail track. He required surgery for a dislocated ankle.
An employee was installing a concrete stormwater pipe. The first piece was laid and the employee was guiding the second pipe into place and lost his footing. The employee's hand slipped out and he went to catch himself when his right index finger was caught between the two pipes coming together, resulting in amputation.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 561730)
An employee was helping to set up a mulch blowing truck when they were struck by an oncoming vehicle. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured knee, a concussion, and a head laceration; they also received stitches on their arm.
An employee was using a table saw to cut a piece of wood when the saw cut his thumb, index, and middle fingers. His index finger was amputated and he was hospitalized.
An employee was mowing a residential lawn at a client's house. The mower slid on the land and tipped over onto him. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra in the neck and partial paralysis.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.